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2011 B.C. (Before Challenge)

What happened today? You are supposed to pick me-up and get me going no matter how tired I am. You are intentionally the first thing I drink at 7:30 am so that I can perk right up and get ready to handle the craziness that is my life. And today, I really needed you. Really really really needed you. That’s why I had two of you before 9:00 am. Did you not get the memo that last night I didn’t get to bed until 11:30 because of #1 vomiting…in my bed almost on my face? And that I got up off the floor where I was sleeping at 2:30 to clean up the baby’s vomit and then slept in his rocking chair until 4:00am when I went into #3’s room to soothe him and his sore tummy to sleep? I mean really, last night was the Musical Bed/Floor night from h*ll. I so needed you today. You left me high and dry, with nothing in the tank. I was dragging all day today. So bad that I had to lie down at the Pediatrician’s office! Well guess what? Without your help, I survived the day without passing out and better yet, without yelling! Sweet. 16 days down!

Cheers,

The Orange Rhino

*

So, t­he weirdest thing happened to me today. I didn’t yell. I know; that is the whole point of this challenge so that is what I should be doing. Not yelling. But by all means, today I should have yelled. In B.C. (Before Challenge) I certainly would have. Like 3 or 4 or more times. I had nothing, and I mean nothing in the tank today. Whereas my darling kids, their tanks were full. Full of whining, crankiness, neediness, nagging, “why can’t I’s” and “you’re not fairs”.

Why can’t I have fruit gummies?
(You’ll throw up).

You’re not fair to not let me eat what I want!
(Tough sh*t, I don’t want to clean up anymore vomit).

Mommy, mommy, mommy who gets to choose the next TV show?
(I don’t care, just please lay still on the dark sofa so that if you do throw up, it’s not too badly stained).

I need a hug. No I do. No I do. NO I DO!
(We all do, but I am about to collapse so how but we all just sit on the couch and hold hands and sing Kumbaya).

Yeah, it was a really fantastic day (sarcasm). And don’t worry, I didn’t say any of the things above, just thought them while biting my tongue really, really hard.But, no seriously, it was a really fantastic day.

Because somehow, I didn’t yell. And that’s a miracle. Take today’s events and put them pack 6 months in B.C. and I would have no voice left and my kids well, they wouldn’t have any tears left to cry. You see, I need sleep. Like a good 8-10 hours of sleep. Without sleep, I tend to be a witch. I snap at everything (why can’t you put your shoes on, I’ve seen you do it before!). I have zero tolerance for anything (stop slurping your Pedialyte popsicles!). And I yell at everyone (STOP WHINING!). So given last night’s charades and lack of sleep, I can’t believe I didn’t yell today.

In fact, today it was more natural for me not to yell, than it was to yell.

Instead of yelling I removed myself to a different room and took a deep breath which by the way, although it worked, was a weird-out-of-body experience for me for two reasons. (1) I don’t know how to take deep breaths (couldn’t even do it right delivering 4 babies!) and (2) I am not used to being calm enough to remove myself from a situation before I yell.

And today it was more natural for me to laugh at the situation, instead of yell at the situation.

Let’s take dear, sweet, eyelash batting, #2 for example. It was 4:45 and I was working “hard” to get dinner on the table: you know, bagels and more blah carbs. #2 was missing. I couldn’t find him anywhere. So I looked in the dining room and this is what I found:

It's 4:45pm, do you know where your son is?

Can you figure that out? It is #2, hiding under the Dining Room table eating an English muffin that he had snuck out of the kitchen.

B.C. reponse:

“WHAT the heck are you doing? It’s almost dinner. Now you won’t eat your dinner. Can’t you wait 5 minutes?!” This would have definitely been in Level 6, not even Level 5. And let’s get real. The kid is getting over the stomach bug so this would have been totally unnecessary shaming. Not cool.

The Orange Rhino response:
#2, what exactly are you doing? His response? “Eating. And Hiding.”

Laughing, I get the camera to capture the moment because this is EXACTLY something I would have done, no did do as a kid.

If it weren’t for this challenge, and this new person I’m becoming, I would not have enjoyed that moment. I would have lost it, literally and figuratively. And it was a moment worth cherishing because it was pretty funny to see myself as a child, in my own child. It was very cool.